Contents
Every minute of his life, a person relies on five senses of perception: sight, smell, taste, sensation and hearing. Therefore, when one of the perceptions is dulled due to pain, there is little pleasure. Especially when such an important organ causes pain.
Pain in the ear area is quite common. However, pain is not always a serious cause for concern. Knowing what and when to pay attention to, you can easily determine the causes of pain yourself.
Causes of ear pain
Pain in the area of the hearing organs can be caused by inflammatory processes or be purely reflexive in nature. Pain in the ear area can also become one of the complications of diseases such as tonsillitis or sinusitis. In addition, ear disease otitis media also causes pain. However, there may be other reasons.
The pain in the ear area itself can be acute (usually due to illness) or dull (inflammatory processes, complications after illness, etc.). Pain can also be caused by simple pressure on the eardrum. This happens when a lot of fluid accumulates in the auricle, which causes pulsation and greater tension in the eardrum. In such cases, dull pain also occurs.
Ear pain occurs in some cases with a cold, due to nasal congestion. During this period, sleep disturbance may also occur. Although, given that a cold, as a rule, goes away on its own, the pain also does not last for a long time.
Symptoms of ear pain
We all know that our hearing organ consists of three parts: the middle, inner and outer ear. All three parts may be affected by pain. In this case, a person may experience several types of pain in the ear area: aching, pressing and shooting. If you feel pain in the area of the outer ear or pinna, which intensifies when you press on the tragus area, there is a possibility of otitis externa, since such pain is its first sign. If the pain intensifies and becomes shooting and painful, you should consult a doctor in order to prevent the development of otitis media. Such a disease will also be accompanied by fever.
Both external and otitis media are the result of a bacterial or viral infection. Children and adolescents are most susceptible to otitis media, since the Eustachian tube of their auditory organs is somewhat shorter than that of adults, and this allows the infection to easily enter the middle part of the auditory organ.
Symptoms of otitis media also include: poor appetite (usually manifests itself in childhood, since pressure in the middle ear causes quite severe pain that they cannot cope with on their own), irritability, sleep disturbances, fever (a consequence of elevated temperature), dizziness. Otitis media may also be accompanied by unpleasant discharge from the ears. The fluid may be yellow, brown or white and is a sure sign that the eardrum has ruptured. In addition, the accumulation of fluid in the auditory organ will lead to hearing impairment and, if the infection does not go away, complete hearing loss.
Inflammation of the outer ear or auricle can also cause pain. In this case, you should postpone swimming or flying, as this may cause increased pain and unpleasant consequences in the form of ear diseases.
Headache in the ear area
Otitis media is often accompanied by headaches. The pain is usually localized in the ear area, but can also be in the frontal area. This pain occurs very quickly, is acute and may be accompanied by fever and dizziness.
In chronic otitis media, the pain is aching and localized in the area of the infected part of the ear. There is also pain in the back of the head.
Severe and acute pain throughout the entire head area, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, is a clear sign of complications of otitis media and its progression to meningitis. In this case, you must immediately consult a doctor.
In general, headaches are characteristic of complex forms of otitis media or complications of an existing infection. With proper and timely treatment, such problems should not arise.
Pain in the tragus area of the ear is characteristic of infections of the outer ear. The pain intensifies even with light pressure on the tragus. In this case, the nature of the pain can be defined as pulling. If there is no purulent discharge and fever, then a warm compress will be enough to treat such an ailment.
If the pain in the ear area is similar to an electric shock and is pulsating, then the cause is most likely trigeminal neuralgia. The pain occurs in attacks of 2 minutes, usually while chewing, brushing teeth or smiling broadly. The pain can be dull or sharp, depending on the characteristics of the human body. In this case, you can observe redness of the facial muscles. Such an illness cannot be cured on your own and you should immediately consult a neurologist.
Diagnosis of ear pain
A complete and high-quality diagnosis of the auditory organs for diseases can only be carried out by a qualified specialist. He checks the ear with an otoscope. A healthy eardrum is pink-gray in color and has a transparent structure. In other cases, we can talk about the presence of ear diseases. When abnormal or infected, the eardrum becomes red, inflamed, and swollen. Using a pneumatic otoscope, you can also check the presence of fluid in the auditory organ. This instrument allows you to change the pressure in the middle part of the auditory organ and influence the eardrum. If the eardrum moves without much effort, then there is no fluid. Under no circumstances should you try to carry out such a diagnosis yourself, as this can lead to damage to the integrity of even a healthy eardrum, and then you definitely cannot avoid going to the doctor.
You can independently diagnose otitis externa. If, when you press on the tragus area, the pain in the area of the auditory organs intensifies, then there is a suspicion of an infectious infection.
If the pain in the ear area intensifies when the earlobe is pulled back, this is a clear symptom of an infection of the outer ear. Such a disease can be either localized (boil, for example), or affect the entire auditory canal. In such a case, consultation with a doctor is necessary.
If you have noticed a clear deterioration in hearing recently, and you also feel congestion in the hearing organ, which does not go away when swallowing, then most likely the problem is a cerumen plug that has formed. You can fix this problem yourself, without resorting to the help of specialists.
Treatment of ear pain
Treatment for ear pain depends on the severity of the infection and the diagnosis. If we are talking about a simple wax plug, then it should first be softened a little with ear drops over several days or a week. Next, you should lie down in a warm bath, so that your ears are completely covered with water. If the plug has softened enough, it will freely come out of the ear canal into the water. If not, then you should consult a doctor. A specialist will be able to remove the wax plug by injecting a warm liquid into the ear canal with a syringe. Under water pressure the plug will come out and your hearing will improve. But you should not carry out such a procedure yourself, because a sharp object (a syringe) can permanently damage the hearing organ if handled incorrectly.
Otitis, in principle, is also easy to treat. When a bacterial infection occurs, doctors usually prescribe antibiotics and pain relievers. For temperatures above 38,5 degrees, which can occur with a cold, acetaminophen or ibuprofen is used to relieve pain in the ear. The effect of these drugs is enough to reduce pain for 1-2 hours. But, during sleep the pain may intensify.
Antibiotics are only prescribed by doctors if the ear infection has nothing to do with a cold or other virus, since strong antibiotics can react with other medications and cause a number of side effects, such as diarrhea, rash or nausea. The action of the antibiotic should relieve pain in the ear area very quickly. If the pain does not subside within 48 hours, you should immediately consult a doctor.
It happens that fluid remains in the ear canal for a very long time and standard treatment methods do not help. In this case, doctors may perform a myringotomy. This procedure involves making a small incision in the eardrum to drain fluid from the middle ear. The procedure is quite simple to perform and is performed under general anesthesia on an outpatient basis.
However, if your ears “shoot”, traditional medicine will also help you. You should start with a warm and warming compress on the sore ear. You need to put it on 2-3 times a day for 2-4 hours. If, in addition to pain in the ears, there is also fever, applying a compress is not recommended. A proper warming compress consists of a liquid mixture of heated alcohol half and half with water, vodka or camphor oil. With the resulting solution, moisten a flannel cloth measuring 8 by 8 centimeters, with a cut in the center for the outer part of the ear. We place such a damp cloth on the ear, inserting the auricle into the slot, put thin cellophane on top (we also make a hole in it for the outer part of the auditory organ) 2-3 cm larger than the flannel cloth soaked in the solution, and cotton wool, the size with a palm. The top of such a compress should be bandaged or wrapped in a scarf. Such a simple procedure will completely reduce pain, but you still shouldn’t put off going to the doctor.
Folk remedies can also help with pain in the ear area – salvation can also be found in simple indoor plants. Geranium will help in the fight against pain. Tear off a small leaf of the plant, grind it until the juice and smell appear, and stick it in the ear canal so that it can be easily reached. Apply a warm compress on top. The geranium leaf in the ear needs to be changed every 3-4 hours. Royal begonia and crested chlorophytum can be used for a similar purpose.
Instead of ear drops, which relieve pain and help fight infection, you can use aloe juice, or prepare a special mixture. To do this, take one walnut oil (you can easily squeeze out the oil using a garlic press) and one drop of tea tree oil (however, you can do without it). The resulting mixture should be instilled into the ears, 2-3 drops at a time.
Preventing ear pain
As we have already found out, pain in the ear area occurs due to an infection in the ear canal. Accordingly, prevention will imply the fight and prevention of such bacterial infection.
Prevention is quite simple: firstly, you should carefully monitor the hygiene of the hearing organs. To do this, rinse your ear canals with a warm saline or herbal solution at least once a month. If you are prone to ear infections, try to prevent fluid from getting into your ear while swimming.
In addition, otitis media can also occur as a complication after a cold. In this case, the first rule will be complete recovery and careful adherence to the regimen prescribed by doctors.
The situation is more complicated with the prevention of otitis media in children. For the youngest, protective measures will include vaccinations against colds and flu, avoiding contact with tobacco smoke (if one of the family members smokes), and prevention of allergic reactions. It is the latter that can cause ear infections in children. In addition to all of the above, you should also monitor the condition of the adenoids. If necessary, the doctor can easily remove them and thereby protect them from complications associated with their enlargement and otitis media.
Remember our recommendations and be healthy!